I sure has hell would take Evan byah over Sarah Palin. I will never vote for someone who thinks I am not a Real American. Sarah Palin doesn't pretend to be a Democrat, she just pretends to care. No one can make me angry enough to make a destructive decision like that.

Nawwwww MJ...I really loathe republicans with every fiber of my being. But this is as close as I have even been to being as pissed at the D's as I am with the R's.

An once in a century mandate for change from the American people being pissed away so they can play nice with people looking to politically destroy them and get even more money from their corporate benefactors...all the stuff they were mandated to change. All the while telling the base, the foundation, of their party to, pardon my language, fuck off...our input is no only not required but it is completely unwelcome.

Then on top of it we get blamed for their complete and total political incompetence when they were asleep at the switch and Massachusetts, along with their precious but tepid HCR, went south on them. They aren't even adult enough to accept the blame when they screwed the pooch. What a three ring bullshit circus sideshow the Democratic Party is right now...the Keystone Cops of politics, the Not Ready For Prime Time Political Players.

I am watching David Axelrod making the most bazaar excuse for why they have lost the last three specials elections. Holy Smoke, they just dont get it. Mr Axelrod cant see his part in the tailspin. He is drunk with power and arrogant and needs rehab or he will find rock bottom coming like a drunk passing out and sees the pavement coming at him but cant stop the crash.

I used to evaluate military organizations. When I ran into the kinds of anger and frustration we are hearing in comments from Democrats today the problem was invariable poor leadership.

I'm seeing that same dynamic again.

I'm not angry today. I'm just sort of relieved the predicted earthquake is over, halfway hopeful that Washington Democrats will finally listen, and now ready to move on to Chapter II of this administration, the one entitled:

"In Which Our Hero Finally Gets It"

I recall numerous incidents during the nominating campaign of 2007-2008 when Obama was beaten down by Clinton, but bounced right back. I still have hope that he will do so again. I'm pretty sure he will do so again, at the risk of being a one-term President.

MJ said "For the first time in memory, we are more pissed off at our party than at the Republicans."

I have been getting so bored of being pissed at Republicans, they didn't have any real power for the last 6 months. I was pissed at them for abusing America during W's administration, but you knew to expect them to be evil, and to steal everything not bolted down.

I can't even go to dailykos, etc. and read the freakshow articles. It gets so boring, over and over "Sarah Palin says something stupid!" "Rush Limbaugh is Racist!" "Glen Beck said something offensive!". It's like ZOOOOOOMG every time these fully predictable events transpire, and liberals get so excited. I don't give too much of a shit. Those clowns need to be mocked, and shown to be liars, but they don't have any power.

I'm pissed at the Dems, and Obama especially, because they are in positions of power. They ran on a platform of "Change" from the policies of George W Bush, but have yet to deliver in any meaningful way on any big issues.

The list of items where Democrats have done nothing, or made things worse:

FISA
free trade
torture
wars
indefinite detention
state's secrets
pentagon budget
public school funding
Don Siegelman
Bernanke
Gates
DADT/DOMA
Health Insurance
Wall Street
Carbon-free progress
Bushie DOJ holdovers
letting Glenn Beck take scalps
Dawn Johnsen
show trials for Gitmo prisoners
commision to cut SS and Medicare
empowering Lieberman
Senate seat in MA

the list of dissapointments, and downright betrayals only grows with time

"(And Glen Beck hates him which, I have to say, gives me a little hope),"

My take is that little Glenna doesn't like ss$arah too much, either. I think he's jealous of her. For the time being, she's getting more attention.

On the other point, maybe this Brown win will be exactly what the Dems need to kick start their asses. If that doesn't happen, It'll be my turn to give up some of that lingering hope.

Obama did as he was told.

He was the pressure relief valve. The proverbial Barn Door, so the rabble could pound on it to relief they're frustrations.

He should have went after the crooks on wall street "stricking while the iron was hot"

Instead he proposes to make healthcare his first objective. Never mind that the battle ground had changed. He runs right smack into a frontal assault, The cannons of Pharma and insurance.

Now his troop are dessimated.

Obama's generals failed to heed Stonewall Jacksons observations

" Always mystify, mislead, and surprise the enemy, if possible; and when you strike and overcome him, never let up in the pursuit so long as your men have strength to follow; for an army routed, if hotly pursued, becomes panic-stricken, and can then be destroyed by half their number. The other rule is, never fight against heavy odds, if by any possible maneuvering you can hurl your own force on only a part, and that the weakest part, of your enemy and crush it. Such tactics will win every time, and a small army may thus destroy a large one in detail, and repeated victory will make it invincible."

Obama knowing full well, he didn't want to touch this hot potato he allowed Congress to lead the charge. Plausible deniabilty. Blame Congress

Congress takes it and by doing so squandered the time, all in hopes to calm the peasant class from seeking the literal heads, of the banking industry.

No! Obama and Congress served they're Corporate Masters well.

The People get no real healthcare reform, wall street is saved from prosecution. A year lost

Republican lite is still Republican

I think the left is innately encumbered with Attention Deficit disorder.

This link from this site is pretty typical of January 2009 euphoria about how Obama was "playing the GOP like a fiddle",....How he was going to "make em pay" and how the GOP was "committing political suicide".

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/01/house-passes-stimulus-with-zero-gop-votes.php

Here were the memes du jour of 12 months ago:

1. If the GOP doesn't act more like Olympia Snow "who everybody in America loves" and stop acting like Eric Cantor, John Boehner, and Mitch McConnell who no one likes and no one would ever vote for, then America will continue to keep walking to the left every day forever and and ever and ever.

...this is the golden rule of trends. They are called "trends" because they are temporal and finite. Political movement to the left is not unstoppable, nor is it irreversible. Those who followed this line of thinking were getting carried away with wishful thinking.

2. The GOP is tearing itself apart. They are in Civil war. They can't agree on anything. The Democrats have proven that we can all unify under the big umbrella, because after all, if Hillary can kiss and make up with Barack after he called her and Bill racists, then cats and dogs will live together and we will be unified forever.

3. The GOP is doomed. They are committing suicide by not joining Obama in his brave new world of perfect legislation and social reform. We are about to embark on the long awaited utopia we have all been waiting for, and if they don't get out of the way, we will push them out of the way.

4. The Democrats now have a new era of "permanent majority".

5. Obama has an undeniable mandate to enact every promise I have "imagined" he made. Obama is definitely a man of the far left like me. Obama is definitely a man of the moderate left like me.

Many left wing pundits in the last several months have been honest enough to admit that they got a little drunk with the Hopium last year. Even Maureen Dowd admitted that she was wrong. What most Americans forget on the right and left is the political system we live in is not a Hollywood movie, where everybody opens their eyes one day and follows the great leader in to the sunset.

When people get frustrated with "obstructionists", lack of "Bipartisanship", Wishy washy non believers ruining OUR Party, slow moving progress,....that is what our founders wanted. They wanted a system that allowed social change in the domestic arena to move like mollasses, so we don't mess things up and so we are not rash in our decisions. This is the same reason it takes years to convict capital punishment cases. This is why Reagan didn't get everything he wanted. This is why GWB didn't get everything he wanted. The entire idea of checks and balances sounds great when it balances your way and sounds horrible when your starving to get your dessert. It was meant to move slow.

It was also meant to give busy working people time to come to grips with the issues that the people on the fringes claim to be experts on, but very often are not.

Let's look at Nov 2008. Pick some random numbers. Let's say the Howard Dean/Nader far left is 20% of the electorate. Let's say the Glen Beck far right is 20 per cent. These two groups will never agree or change. Then let's say the Evan Bayh/DLC/HRC moderate left is 20% and the Bob Dole/John McCain moderate right is 20%, that leaves that 20% in the middle that voted for Reagan, then for Clinton, then for GWB then for Obama.

The gains in the house and to a certain extent in the Senate, as well as the districts that Obama picked off, came from this 20%. Sure we can talk about getting out the base and Rove pumping up Christians and Obama pulling 95% blacks and so on, but this middle 20% is the swing.

Those gains in the house were Democrats that won by imitating Republicans in conservative districts. That's how they won. It is not the intrangisence of a stubborn freshman congressman that is standing in the way of this brave new world, nor is it Evan Bayh. These districts were red in October of 2008 and Blue in Nov 2008 and according to the polls and the special elections many of these districts are now red again. These people are called "Representatives"...they are supposed to represent. When Nancy Pelosi says she will force Healthcare through even when poll numbers are down to 37%, she is either showing bold leadership or she is compelling these purple district congressman to not represent the people.

You may shake your fist at the whim and fickleness, but this middle 20% is how Parliamentary systems form a coalition government.

What was gained with these seats in 2008 was viewed as a "permanent majority", but when these new Democrats in marginal districts got nervous, they were called cowards and turncoats,...as they are now. Many pundits speculated in January 2009 whether Obama would go slow and steady to not scare the middle or as E.J. Dionne said, Go for it all now while the iron is hot and if we lose houses in 2010, we'll deal with it then.

The Decision was nearly unanimous. Go for it all and do it quick.

This was a much talked about strategic decision. Everybody on this forum is pretending to not remember this decision. Every Democrat was part of that decision. As Kennedy said Failure is an orphan.

If you viewed the election as an irreversible mandate and a permanent shift left, then the Dionne strategy was the right one. Go for the whole ball of wax. The sacrificial lambs would be these new "One term" Democrats in marginal districts, but an omelette needs some broken eggs, right?

They may not represent their constituents perfectly, but the people spoke a year ago and they are speaking now. The Evan Bayh's and Joe Lieberman's of the world were sent to DC by millions of people's voices.

Joe Biden rarely tells an interesting story, or says anything interesting for that matter, but he told a story of his first day in congress when he spoke to an veteran statesman and said, "How can you be so polite to Jessee Helms, he is insane", and the man told young Biden, "Sen. Helm's was sent here by hundreds of thousands of people in South Carolina. I honor their voice and their will, not the man." Biden considers this his most valuable lesson in how he views his colleagues when they frustrate him. I don't know what that says about people from Delaware.

Try calling a congressman in a district you don't live in, the first thing they ask is are you in the district. If not they nearly hang up on you. These new Democrats were laid on the alter by the same people that are now mad at them for not being true believers.

We have to accept that the Progressive far left 20% will never get satisfaction in this system.

The Glen Beck 20% will never get satisfaction.

It is galling to both of these groups that a mushy middle that probably doesn't follow politics like they do can hold sway over our lives. But our founders wanted it that way. Everybody gets a voice in this system,...even the easily swayed and oft disinterested middle.

No Hollywood ending. It might sound boring, but it has worked "OK' for 220 years.

I remember the rhetoric of the unstoppable march of the left and the divided chaotic suicidal GOP and I have seen the rhetoric from the left flip 180 and now the GOP is called "lockstep", monolithic, shrewd, clever, calculating, unified.

...and if you want to see the terms used to describe the Democrats, scroll down.

It is possible that in politics, you don't take the highs to high and the lows too low. As Kipling reminded us, they are two imposters on either side of the same coin.

Don't listen to the people that are responding with rage, bitterness, hate and loathing. They are most likely the ones that were all for this strategy and would have been one of the thousand father's of success that Kennedy told us about.

Read the whole link and read all the comments and be honest with yourself where you stood a year ago.